The API provides a mechanism to interact with the data stored in RealEarth. The web display can be configured using these keywords on the server side (using the JavaScript initialization object) or the the client side (as part of the URL).

Absolute times are formatted as YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm[:ss]. Full year, month, day, hour, and minute are required; seconds are optional.

Relative times are formatted as [-]#(dhmst), indicating a (possibly negative) offset from the anchor time. Each of dhmst specifies Days, Hours, Minutes, Seconds, and Timesteps respectively.

Time ranges are specified as [time start],[time end].

NOTE: Most API calls allow time to be specified using the time keyword with an arbitrary date and time. The preferred, more efficient way to specify time is to use the products keyword form [Product ID]_[YYYYMMDD]_[hhmmss], which requests the exact date and time given without the need to look up the nearest time for each individual request.

Use the products API to get a list of available times for a given set of products.

Use the time or latest API to get the nearest available or latest time for a given set of products and nominal time.

Explanation

RealEarth uses most recent time matching. When metadata, imagery, or shapes are requested, data for the most recent time is returned, without going past the given time. Each product defines a valid time range for its own data, after which it is considered to be expired and will be ignored. Each animation step consults the API to determine which absolute time to show for each product layer.